Editing Lollardy (section)

==History==
[[File:Wycliffe John Gospel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A late 14th-century beginning of the [[Gospel of John]], starting with a large letter ‘I’ in blue, from a pocket Wycliffe translation. It may have been used by a roving Lollard preacher]]
Although Lollardy was denounced as a [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] by the Catholic Church, initially Wycliffe and the Lollards were sheltered by politically-influential nobleman [[John of Gaunt]] and other anti-clerical nobility, who may have wanted to use Lollard-advocated clerical reform to acquire new sources of revenue from England's monasteries. The [[University of Oxford]] also protected Wycliffe and similar academics on the grounds of academic freedom and, initially, allowed such persons to retain their positions despite their controversial views.

Two primary religious opponents of the Wycliffites were [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] [[William Courtenay (bishop)|William Courtenay]] and his successor [[Thomas Arundel]], assisted by bishops like [[Henry le Despenser]] of [[Bishop of Norwich|Norwich]], whom the chronicler [[Thomas Walsingham]] praised for his zeal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Walsingham |title=Historia Anglicana |volume=2 |page=189}}.</ref>

Historian T. Waugh suggests the Lollard movement was small with little appeal to the upper classes, who liked the anti-clerical politics but not the religious doctrines. "Notices of Lollardy after the death of Wycliffe are scattered and meagre. Sixteenth century Protestantism invested the Lollards with a posthumous renown, but there can be little doubt that, when their first energy had spent itself, they speedily became an obscure sect, destitute of living leaders, and vaguely re-echoing the teaching of a deceased founder whom they only half understood."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waugh |first1=W. T. |title=The Lollard Knights |journal=The Scottish Historical Review |date=1913 |volume=11 |issue=41 |pages=55–92 |jstor=25518640 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25518640 |issn=0036-9241}}</ref>

=== Oxford Lollards===
The initial Lollards were a small group of scholars,  particularly at [[Merton College]], Oxford University, some with important positions, who came under the influence of Wycliffe in the 1360s and 1370s. After Wycliffe's natural death, all of them eventually submitted to Archbishop of Canterbury [[William Courtenay (bishop)|William Courtenay]] to renounce Wycliffe's contentious doctrines, and none suffered long-term consequences.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larsen |first1=Andrew E. |title=The School of Heretics: Academic Condemnation at the University of Oxford, 1277-1409 |date=9 September 2011 |doi=10.1163/9789004206625_010}}</ref>{{rp|ch9}} These notably included [[Nicholas Hereford]], who is usually named as the translator of most of the Old Testament of the Wycliffean [[Wycliffe's Bible|Middle English Bible]].

=== Peasants' Revolt===
{{Main|Peasants' Revolt}}
Lollards first faced serious persecution after the [[Peasants' Revolt]] in 1381. While Wycliffe and other Lollards opposed the revolt, one of the peasants' leaders, [[John Ball (priest)|John Ball]], preached Lollardy. Prior to 1382, Wycliffite beliefs were tolerated in government as they endorsed in [[Acts of Supremacy|royal superiority]] to bishops.{{clarify|date=September 2023}} However, the government and royals were hesitant, as they did not want to encourage subjects to criticize religious powers.<ref name=":0" />

After 1382, royalty and nobility found Lollardy to be a threat not only to the Church, but to English society in general. The Lollards' small measure of protection evaporated. This change in status was also affected by the departure of [[John of Gaunt]] (Duke of Lancaster, patron of [[Chaucer]] and protector of [[John Wycliffe]]) who left England in 1386 to pursue the [[Crown of Castile]].

Paul Strohm has asked: "Was the Lollard a genuine threat or a political pawn, agent of destabilising challenge, or a hapless threat of self-legitimizing Lancastrian discourse?"<ref name=kelly>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672806.013.2| last = Kelly| first = Stephen| editor2-first = Helen| editor2-last = Wilcox| editor1-first = Andrew| editor1-last = Hiscock| title = The Pre-Reformation Landscape| journal = The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern English Literature and Religion| access-date = 7 July 2018| date = 29 June 2017| isbn = 978-0-19-967280-6| url = http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672806.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199672806-e-2}}</ref>

=== Lollard Knights ===
A group of gentry active during the reign of [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] (1377–99) were known as "Lollard Knights" either during or after their lives due to their acceptance of Wycliffe's claims. [[Henry Knighton]], in his Chronicle, identifies the principal Lollard Knights as Thomas Latimer, John Trussell, Lewis Clifford, Sir John Peche (son of [[John Peche]] of Wormleighton), Richard Storey, and Reginald Hilton. [[Thomas Walsingham]]'s Chronicle adds William Nevil and [[John Clanvowe]] to the list, and other potential members of this circle have been identified by their wills, which contain Lollard-inspired language about how their bodies are to be plainly buried and permitted to return to the soil whence they came.

There is little indication that the Lollard Knights were specifically known as such during their lifetimes. They were men of discretion, and unlike Sir [[John Oldcastle]] years later, rarely gave any hint of open rebellion. However, they displayed a remarkable ability to retain important positions, without falling victim to the prosecutions of Wycliffe's followers during their lifetimes.

=== Legal response ===
[[File:Richard Wyche at the stake, 1440.gif|thumb|upright|Lollard Richard Wyche being burnt at the stake in 1440]]
Religious and secular authorities strongly opposed Lollardy. In eventual response to the revolting Lollards, the law ''[[De heretico comburendo]]'' was enacted in 1401 during the reign of [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]]; traditionally heresy had been defined as an error in theological belief, but this statute equated theological [[heresy]] with [[sedition]] against political rulers.<ref name=kelly/>

By the early 15th century, stern measures were undertaken by Church and state which drove Lollardy underground. One such measure was the 1410 burning at the stake of [[John Badby]], a layman and craftsman who refused to renounce his Lollardy. He was the first layman to suffer [[capital punishment]] in England for the crime of heresy.

===Oldcastle Revolt===
{{main|Oldcastle Revolt}}

[[File:Oldcastleburning.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Oldcastle]] being burnt for insurrection and Lollard heresy.]]
[[John Oldcastle]], a close friend of [[Henry V of England]] and the basis for [[Falstaff]] in the [[Shakespearean history]] ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'', was brought to trial in 1413 after evidence of his Lollard beliefs was uncovered. Oldcastle escaped from the [[Tower of London]] and organized an insurrection, which included an attempted kidnapping of the king. The rebellion failed, and Oldcastle was executed. [[John Oldcastle#Open rebellion|Oldcastle's revolt]] made Lollardy seem even more threatening to the state, and persecution of Lollards became more severe.

=== 1428 Kentish Insurrection ===
An insurrection was nipped in the bud in 1428, feared to involve several thousand Lollards, intent on "destroying the English church."<ref name=aston>{{cite journal |last1=Aston |first1=Margaret |title=William White's Lollard Followers |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |date=1982 |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=469–497 |jstor=25021412 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25021412 |issn=0008-8080}}</ref>{{rp|769}} It was associated with Lollard missionary William White.

=== Late Lollardy in the 1500s ===
Lollards were effectively absorbed into [[Protestantism]] during the [[English Reformation]], in which Lollardy played a role. Since Lollards had been underground for more than a hundred years, the extent of Lollardy and its ideas at the time of the Reformation is uncertain and a point of debate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aston |first=Margaret E. |author-link= Margaret Aston |date=1964 |title=Lollardy and the Reformation: Survival or Revival? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-229X.1964.tb01098.x |journal=History |language=en |volume=49 |issue=166 |pages=149–170 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1964.tb01098.x |issn=0018-2648}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickens |first=A. G. |author-link= A. G. Dickens |title=The English Reformation |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0271028682 |edition=2nd |location=Pennsylvania |pages=46–60 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stansfield-Cudworth |first=R. E. |date=2021 |title=From Minority to Maturity: The Evolution of Later Lollardy |url=https://www.shermjournal.org/articles/from-minority-to-maturity%3A-the-evolution-of-later-lollardy |journal=Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=325–352 |doi=10.33929/sherm.2021.vol3.no2.07 |s2cid=248602354 |issn=2637-7500|doi-access=free }}</ref> Ancestors of [[Blanche Parry]], the closest person to [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] for 56 years, and of [[Blanche Milborne]], who raised Edward VI and Elizabeth I, had Lollard associations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/statutes.html |title=Documents on the changing status of the English Vernacular, 1500–1540 |access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=RIC |last=Potter |first=R.}}</ref>

Many critics of the Reformation, including [[Thomas More]], equated Protestants with Lollards. Leaders of the [[English Reformation]], including Archbishop [[Thomas Cranmer]], referred to Lollardy as well, and [[Cuthbert Tunstall|Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall of London]] called [[Lutheranism]] the "foster-child" of the Wycliffite heresy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/statutes.html |title=Documents on the changing status of the English Vernacular, 1500–1540 |access-date=11 March 2008 |publisher=RIC |last=Potter |first=R.}}</ref> Scholars debate whether Protestants actually drew influence from Lollardy, or whether they referred to it to create a sense of tradition. Late Lollards had little direct connection to Wycliffe's ideas. <ref>"There is very little evidence that the late Lollards ever saw, read or possessed anything from the corpus of Wycliffite writings, with the exception of the scriptural translations." {{cite journal |last1=McSheffrey |first1=S. |title=Heresy, Orthodoxy and English Vernacular Religion 1480-1525 |journal=Past & Present |date=1 February 2005 |issue=186 |pages=47–80 |doi=10.1093/pastj/gti001}}</ref>

Other [[martyr]]s for the Lollard cause were executed during the next century, including the [[Amersham]] Martyrs in the early 1500s and [[Thomas Harding]] in 1532, one of the last Lollards to be persecuted. A gruesome reminder of this persecution is the 'Lollards Pit' in Thorpe Wood, now [[Thorpe Hamlet]], Norwich, Norfolk, "''where men are customablie burnt''",<ref name="Rackham">{{cite book|last=Rackham |first=Oliver |author-link = Oliver Rackham |year=1976 |title=Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape |publisher=JM Dent & Sons |isbn=0-460-04183-5 |pages=137–38}}.</ref> including [[Thomas Bilney]].

Despite the debate about the extent of Lollard influence there are ample records of the persecution of Lollards from this period. In the [[Diocese of London]], there are records of about 310 Lollards being prosecuted or forced to abjure from 1510 to 1532. In Lincoln diocese, 45 cases against Lollardy were heard in 1506–1507. In 1521, there were 50 abjurations and 5 burnings of Lollards.{{clarify |Lollard or Lutheran?|date=September 2023}} In 1511, [[Archbishop Warham]] presided over the abjuration of 41 Lollards from Kent and the burning of 5.<ref name="Dickens">{{cite book |last=Dickens |first=A.G. |author-link= A. G. Dickens |year=1959 |title=Lollards & Protestants in the Diocese of York, 1509–58 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9780907628057}}</ref>

In 1529, [[Simon Fish]] wrote an incendiary pamphlet ''Supplication for the Beggars'', including his denial of [[purgatory]] and teachings that priestly [[celibacy]] was an invention of the [[Antichrist]]. He argued that earthly rulers have the right to strip Church properties, and that [[tithe|tithing]] was against the [[Gospel]], Protestant views that echo the Wycliffite/Lollard teaching.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.3366/more.1984.21.2.4| issn = 0047-8105| volume = 21 (Number 82)| issue = 2| pages = 18| last = Marc'hadour| first = Germain| title = Margaret Aston, "William White's Lollard Followers"| journal = Moreana | date = 1 June 1984}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-134-91333-6| last = Rollison| first = David| title = The Local Origins of Modern Society: Gloucestershire 1500-1800| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkKIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 |date = 11 August 2005}}</ref>  He advocated closing of all monasteries, and notably provided economic estimates of the revenues of various monastic and church institutions.

The extent of Lollardy in the general populace at this time is unknown. The prevalence of Protestant [[iconoclasm]] in England suggests Lollard ideas may still have had some popular influence if [[Huldrych Zwingli]] was not the source, as Lutheranism did not advocate iconoclasm. Lollards were persecuted again between 1554 and 1559 during the [[Revival of the Heresy Acts]] under the Catholic [[Mary I of England|Mary I]], which specifically suppressed heresy and Lollardy.

The similarity between Lollards and later English Protestant groups, such as the [[Baptists]], [[Puritans]], and [[Quakers]], also suggests some continuation of Lollard ideas through the Reformation.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The World of Rural Dissenters, 1520–1725 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0521410618 |editor-last=Spufford |editor-first=Margaret |editor-link= Margaret Spufford |location=Cambridge |language=en}}</ref>